Live Session | Modular Environment Creation in Unreal | with Clinton Crumpler

Recording of Live Session on August 11th 2016 with Clinton Crumpler as he talked about his workflow in the Unreal Engine and how he goes about creating amazing environments (for some of the most iconic games in our industry).
Clinton Crumpler teaches the elective class UE4 Modular Environments. Learn more about the class at 3dclassroom.cgm...
To watch more industry session videos or other CGS-TV originals visit our page at www.cgsociety.o...

[@ClintonCrumpler]

Thanks for having me on to talk. I had tons of fun answering questions!

[@T0YBOX]

Would you say that any of the techniques you used would be valid for game engines across the board? I love UE4 but I refuse to give Tencent any money. :/

[@ClintonCrumpler]

Yes the majority of these techniques could be used in any current gen game editor.

[@jonathanstarsmoure5791]

would you be willing to make a level in CryEngine? I'm curious how the results would look like and how similar/different it would be with Unreal specially with your skill level.

[@T0YBOX]

I second this, though I would like to add that I would prefer Lumberyard over CryEngine.

[@HeinousAnusOG]

same principles, different methods

[@PolygonAcademy]

this is an awesome talk by Clinton. Huge fan of his work.

[@Pixotv]

The level of detail is Unreal.. (sorry couldn't resist)

[@harrysanders818]

These are some of the smartest student questions I ever heard during a stream. And also greatly answered. Thanks for this. Really enjoyed it.

[@ImReadyD151]

I really like where he said he's done that same laundry mat project multiple times to see his progress and improve

[@Ootrick3D]

Great work Clinton!

[@mackabiemoss]

Sweet! Thanks a ton for posting this.

[@louisbeveridge9080]

Awesome work, and helpful questions/answers! thanks :)

[@danielc.6644]

Such a good and informative video, thank you!

[@brannyovs5]

looks super amazing.

[@ImReadyD151]

Absolutely amazing

[@jonastorress8921]

this is amazing keep up the work guys!

[@JoseMartinez-pn9dy]

Cool. Looks good. Nice. Nice job.

[@crispijnvansas]

Great result!

[@rinuadegbite8571]

One word: Crumpler.

[@blendifi]

14:37 exactly. i thought it was still image...my god.

[@MKS_Design]

Really need this class, I know Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop , good deal of substance painter , a bit of substance designer. and a bit of unreal.however, many of the terms discussed are foreign to me (texture sample, vertex paint...) . If I decided to take this class do you think I need to worry about this? What do you expect your student to know in order to take this class?

[@fvonseydlitz66]

Clinton, I wanted to register for this class and buy it. So disappointed the course website says the class is full. Can you make an exception? I really am interested in this class. Take my money!

[@ClintonCrumpler]

There will be another class offered next year!

[@ewinter9021]

Crumpler is this class intermediate level? And do you offer beginner to intermediate level classes? As in teach how to use a 3d modeling software to a point where we can do this? And what is the price of the class 1--2000 USD?

[@ClintonCrumpler]

Yes this is an intermediate level class. I would suggest taking one of the other courses from another professor that teaches more beginners course if you are just starting to learn 3D. Then maybe taking this one later on.

[@ClintonCrumpler]

I believe it is998 USD. This is an intermediate class. I typically advice students they must have a decent modeling and texturing background and a little bit of experience in a game engine.

[@kyletobin3105]

I want to get into this, however I have no background knowledge of photoshop or 3D packages.. Can anyone help me find a place to start? What kind of projects I should try to do in order for me to learn etc.

[@Aussie.Owlcoholic]

Kyle Tobin I know it's a late reply but you can either see if there's any 3D courses in your area you could do, or use the plethora of videos online. Blender is free (I personally don't like it but its popular) or you can get a subscription to Maya Lt for quite cheap. Search for beginners videos for the 3d program you choose just to learn the basic features and UI. I think the best way to learn and improve once you have the very basics down is to grab anything around your house and study how it is made, what components its made from, what basic shapes do each component resemble most. after that just start trying to make it! start with simple blocky shapes and move up from there. if you want to do really high poly work you'll need something like zbrush for sculpting in little details, which you can then turn into the normal map for the low poly model.

[@DavidBoura]

This is from the future, right?

[@rinuadegbite8571]

Hah!

[@skyrah6488]

Quixel DDo and NDo at 32:12

[@WolverineMKD]

This looks a bit like the mine in Mist Survival...

[@itownfutsalteam]

I have one question, if i model everything and texture it and place it manually in 3ds max or else i model every thing and then bring it out in engine and then place it... which one is correct and industrial? i think im being taught wrong cause that's taking me a handful time to execute what i want! could anyone comment and help me. Thankyou !

[@240lumenspower]

Waht is the tool he's mentionning at 32:18? I cannot understand the name. Thank you

[@ClintonCrumpler]

Mightybake www.mightybake.com/

[@240lumenspower]

Thank you

[@PsychicFreak]

ahhh the class is full :( Will this run again at some stage?

[@ClintonCrumpler]

Yes it will :D

[@PsychicFreak]

amazing. I'm so in for the next session!

[@Starius2]

i wish i could afford modo.

[@awayfarer9822]

This scene in PlayerUnknown`s Battlegrounds battle royale game !

[@asadmustafa1255]

in my company my team leader wants the environment in 2 days

[@jonathanxdoe]

I have to be honest, I'm shocked that such a professional uses automatic unwrapping for lightmaps... I also cannot find the class.

[@T800System]

What's wrong with automatic unwrapping in UE? Gives perfectly acceptable results 90% of the time in my experience.

[@jonathanxdoe]

You waste a ton of UV space. Also is made using the same UV isle that you use for texturing, so not the best solution for lightmaps

[@T800System]

Good point, but if it's only a show piece like this where you don't have to be too stringent about performance then I don't see why one should avoid automatic unwrapping provided it gives good visual results. As with most things in games development, it's a trade off.

[@jonathanxdoe]

Do you apply the same logic to other things in your project? If I'm doing something, I try to do it properly the first time. I don't want to get back in there and rework the UV if I want to sell the assets, for example. A trade off can be when you try to push for the best quality and the best performance at the same time. If you try to do one thing as best as you can, and leave the rest as it is, you are probably just being lazy.

[@T800System]

Trade off was probably not the best term for me to have used. Speaking only to visual concerns, if automatic unwrapping your lightmaps in UE is a massive time saver (which undoubtedly it is) and the piece you're working on is only for visual purposes and is not intended to be played/interacted with then I don't necessarily see a problem. But yes, it is of course right in a developmental context to light map properly so as to mitigate performance loss.

[@QuartaRatio]

01:10:57 west end ....lol